ISLAMABAD: Amid a prolonged absence of the police chief in Islamabad following the transfer of ex-IGP Dr Akbar Nasir Khan, the chief commissioner’s office on Monday asked the Ministry of Interior to appoint the ‘most senior officer’, DIG Headquarters Hassan Raza, as the acting chief.

In a letter addressed to the joint secretary of the Ministry of Interior titled ‘assignment of additional charge’, the chief commissioner’s office said the newly posted IGP (Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi) had not assumed the charge.

In the absence of the IGP, the official work of the capital police was suffering, the letter said, adding that it was requested that the temporary charge of the IGP Islamabad be assigned to DIG Headquarters Hassan Raza Khan, who is the “senior-most officer” of the capital police at present.

Meanwhile, DIG Headquarters Hassan Raza took the acting charge on Saturday night, the police sources said, adding that the DIG also chaired a meeting on Monday as the acting IGP. The meeting was attended by the DIG operations, acting DIG Security, and SSP operations.

Sources say commissioner’s office, interior ministry working to abolish Police Order

According to the Esta Code (Civil Establishment Code) and Rules of Business 1973, the IGP can appoint the senior-most officer to look after the top post for 90 days or till the appointment of a regular police chief.

Since the IGP failed to appoint his stopgap replacement and the new police chief appeared reluctant to take charge, the most senior officer of the capital police will look after the office of the IGP as per the rules as mentioned earlier.

‘Not the most senior officer’

Sources said DIG Raza was not the most senior officer in the capital police, as DIG Awais Ahmed, currently in Kenya, is fourth in the seniority list of CTP-29 whereas DIG Raza is in the 14th place. Both are from the CTP-29, however.

However, DIG Hassan Raza will remain the most senior officer till the return of DIG Awais Ahmed who is in Kenya on official duty regarding the murder case of Arshad Sharif, a Pakistani journalist who was shot dead in Nairobi by the police in Oct 2022.

Police Order’s twilight

Due to repeated tussles over the powers of the IGP under the Police Order, the commissioner’s office and the interior ministry are now working together to abolish the Police Order promulgated by the former IGP without following the due procedure.

Now the two offices are working to bring the capital police under the Police Rules, the sources said, adding that approaching the interior ministry by the commission office to appoint the acting IGP was a part of the same strategy.

The police spokesperson said DIG Awais Ahmed was not coming to work but he was not sure who granted the police officer a leave from office. It may be noted that along with two other DIGs, DIG Security Awais Ahmed also applied for a 15-day leave from the commissioner but the request was declined on account of a tug-of-war between the police and local administration. The same officers had sought five-day leaves from the ex-IGP because they did not ‘salute’ a junior officer who was named as the police chief.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2024